Pandora's Box
by JesseLou
Summary: A young Hufflepuff is curious about all the different Myths and Legends. Approaching her 16th birthday and 10th anniversary since her parents' death, Hayley wants to know the reason for their death, even if her best friend doesn't want her to.
1. The Library

It was silent. Everywhere was silent. The wind did not make the usual howling sound as it moved through the trees. Owls did not make noise, nor did any other creature. The area around the lake was quiet, the soft waves did not make the quiet sound they normally would. The hallways did not make a sound, the old stone walls did not creak and the paintings did not make a move. Every room was as silent as can be. No snoring, or mutterings or movement was heard from the dormitories. Peace and quiet had taken hold of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Everyone was asleep, apart from one curious 5th year Hufflepuff. At 3am, it was past curfew for her, but she did not care, nor was she aware of it. All around her were the books that would normally been seen in the library about Greek myths. One book was open which did not belong there, as it had come from the Restricted Section. She had a note to collect the book, of course, but no-one knew the reason why she needed to read up on Greek Mythology.

Hayley Anderson gazed down at the old, worn book sleepily, not taking in the information set in front of her. Her deep green eyes fazed in and out of focus as she attempted to read the chapter on Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty. The lamp beside her was losing it's flame and dimmed a little each second, darkening the table in the library that Hayley had claimed since she started school at Hogwarts.

Since she was a little girl with frizzy red hair, Hayley had always been interested with Greek Mythology, and with the story of Pandora's Box. It amazed her that all these myths gave reasons for why the world is how it is today; especially regarding evils, ills, diseases, and burdensome labour, which had, according to legend, escaped Pandora's Box when she opened it out of pure curiosity.

Hayley looked up when everything went dark in her little corner. The soft moonlight could barely light up the table for her to see, so Hayley became very scared. She hadn't liked the dark since she was a little girl, when her parents were attacked during the night, leaving her to live with her Grandparents at the young age of 5. Anything could jump out and attack her, and if she had her light, she knew that she wouldn't be as scared when she could see their faces.

Slowly, she reached for her wand that was sticking out the back of her jeans pocket. Her hand griped the end of the 7 ½ inch phoenix feather yew wand so tight that her knuckles went white. Hayley screamed when someone put their hand on her shoulder lightly and immediately tensed up. The familiar chuckling caused her to look up, her wand lit up with the Lumos spell and she gazed into the icy blue eyes of her companion. Hayley huffed angrily and put her wand on the table, illuminating the area a little. "Why must you scare the heck out of me every night?" She asked as the mysterious person sat beside her, looking comfortable and relaxed

"Because, my love, it amuses me," Hayley turned and glared lightly at Draco Malfoy, before she looked back down at the text book and began reading again. Draco leaned over Hayley's shoulder to glimpse at the text. He sighed when he caught the words 'Aphrodite'. "Why must you always read about Greek Mythology at 3 O'clock in the morning?"

"Because, my love, it amuses me," Hayley retorted lightly, not looking up at his pale, smug face. The two had been friends since they were babies; as they were neighbours before Hayley's parents died. When she moved to live with her grandparents, the two rarely kept contact, only messaging at Christmas and Birthdays and every so often to see what the other was up to. When the two started Hogwarts together, they were more than ecstatic. . . until Hayley was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Draco into Slytherin. The only real time the two would have to be together was, really, at night after curfew, in class (But it was rare when they would be paired up together) and during the holidays. Even during Christmas and Summer break, the two would barely see each other. Their parents/grandparents and friends did not know the two still talked to each other, let alone know that they know each other and like each other, instead of hating each other like everyone thinks.

Draco chuckled at her, clearly amused at Hayley's interest in the ancient legends. He knew how interested in Pandora's Box she was, and was even interested himself. He heard how the box brought instant death to the person who opened it, and wanted to challenge the rumour. However, he knew that if the rumour was true, then he would not see Hayley again, or even his best friend Blaise Zabini, no matter how much he got on Draco's nerves by speaking badly of Hayley.

Hayley glanced at him when he chuckled, obviously amused at this. She went quiet when she looked back at her book, attempting to continue reading about Aphrodite. She at least wanted to finish reading about this intriguing Goddess before she began talking to Draco, or even before she fell asleep. As Draco began poking her in the side, purely out of boredom, Hayley knew that she wouldn't have the chance. "Do you mind? I'm trying to read here," she said, chuckling at him.

"Oh, I am so sorry," Draco said to her, sarcasm touching his words lightly, "I'll just let you read whilst I sit here, completely bored out of my mind." He grinned when Hayley sighed heavily and closed her book, making sure that she bookmarked her page. Guilt always worked with Hayley when he wanted things, but it rarely worked for anything else.

"You know, I really hate when you play the guilt card on me," Hayley said, sounding annoyed, amused and tired. She rubbed her eyes lightly, before she ran her hands through her deep red hair, untangling any knots in her side fringe. She let out a yawn that lasted 10 seconds, before she looked at Draco, tears shining lightly in her eyes.

He looked at her worriedly, knowing that she hadn't had much sleep lately. As it was coming up to the 10th anniversary of her parent's death, Hayley had been making sure that she stayed awake during the night, and during the day. It helped a little that there were spells and potions to help her stay awake, or to show that she had a night's sleep, but Hayley was beginning to take the strain, and Draco could see it in her eyes. "You need to sleep, Hae,"

"No. I don't. I can stay up," Hayley said, shaking her head lightly. As usual, her stubborn side was starting to show, which began to annoy Draco. With a swift movement of his wand, the books began returning to their original places in the bookshelves. "No, what are you doing? Don't you dare put that book back," she said as Draco picked up the book from the Restricted Section and put it in her bag. He dug around his pockets and took out a small vial, full with liquid. Hayley glanced at the vial, then up at Draco's face, "I'm not drinking it,"

"Hae, you have to. I'm not going to just sit here and watch my best friend slowly kill herself by not sleeping for weeks," Draco said, staring at her. He paused for a few seconds, seeing her slowly give in, before he took the vial's lid off and gave it to her, "Please. You won't have any nightmares, I promise. Snape helped me brew this to make sure you had a good night's sleep."

Hayley reached for the vial tentatively, knowing that when she drank it, she would instantly fall asleep, because she was so tired. She lifted the vial to her lips, not drinking any yet. She was scared at what would happen. She didn't want her nightmares back, nor did she want Draco to leave her. Glancing at him, she saw how worried for her he was. She could tell that he hadn't slept in weeks either. She hated how protective of her he was, how easily worried he was. But then she loved how much he cared for her and how he would die before any serious harm would come to her. He was her best friend, and more, and wouldn't know what she would do if he wasn't there in her life. Tilting her head back a little, Hayley drank the tasteless liquid. It stuck in the back of her throat, causing her to want some water. As quickly as the feeling came and went, drowsiness soon fogged her vision. She gripped Draco's hand as she gave the vial back to him and relaxed when she fell into the deep sleep the potion brought upon her.

Draco sighed lightly as he saw the peace on Hayley's sleeping face. He began packing away her things, making sure that the lamp was back in its place before he carefully picked Hayley up so he could carry her to her common room. He put her wand back in her bag, muttering Nox to it, before he used lumos on his own wand to give him light when he began the trek to the Hufflepuff Common Room.


	2. Letter from a friend

When Hayley woke up the next morning, she felt disorientated and her head was fuzzing. She looked around vaguely, seeing the familiar yellow curtains around her four-poster bed. She sat up slowly, holding a hand to her head as her head began throbbing lightly. Rubbing her eyes, Hayley swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She was aware that she was still in yesterday's clothes, and had no idea why she was in the girls' dormitory, instead of in the library with Draco.

_Bloody Slytherin's going to die. _Hayley thought to herself as she drew back the curtains, wincing as the afternoon sun hit her square in the face. She didn't know how long she was asleep, but she felt so refreshed and awake that she didn't care. She ran her hands through her hair, wincing as her fingers were caught in some knots and headed towards the bathroom to take a hot shower that would, hopefully, waken her up even more.

Once she was dressed and ready for the day ahead, Hayley grabbed her own book on Greek Mythology and headed towards the Great Hall, hoping to get something to eat before lunch disappeared. If she was late, then she would either have to go to the Kitchens, even though she didn't know where they were, or to wait until dinner.

Just as Hayley passed through the door leading to the Hufflepuff common room from the Dormitories, she noticed a package on her bedside table. Curious, she walked over and picked up the small piece of parchment and read the note.

_My dear Aphrodite. _

_I apologise for what happened last night. I am truly worried for you and I cannot stress enough how much I care about you, even if I do not show it during school hours. I hope you enjoyed your sleep. I suspect you are hungry, so I made sure Hermes gave you this lunch I prepared for you. If that owl has eaten it all before you could gaze upon it, I apologise. Hermes is always rather hungry._

_I am sure that I will see you sometime today. If not, I wish you all the best for this glorious day ahead of us. _

_Your Hades,_

_Dragon. _

Hayley smiled lightly at the note Draco left for her. Ever since she found out that his name translated to 'Dragon' in Latin, she had never stopped calling him the nickname. It stuck, like Hae had stuck as his nickname for her. She set the parchment on her bed and opened the package. Immediately, the scent of fresh sandwiches and pumpkin pie hit her like a soft wave. Hermes, her rather fat owl, did tend to stay away from pumpkin flavoured food. He would eat everything else, though.

When Draco wrote notes for her, he did tend to call her Aphrodite and called himself Hades. It was a joke between the two of them, as Hayley claimed that Draco was her own Hades, and she was his Aphrodite. Again, the nicknames stuck. The two of them were greater friends than anyone else could be. They understood each other and enjoyed each other's company more than a young couple would. They knew they would be friends forever, even if they go their own way once Hogwarts was over in 2 years time.

"Oh, good! You're finally awake!" Hayley looked up from eating a peanut butter and jam sandwich to look at Susan Bones when she walked into the dormitory. She watched as Susan walked closer and looked at the note on her bed, "You know... I'd like to meet this 'Dragon' guy. You'd be good for each other... does he go to this school?"

"Uh..... Yeah... he, uh... yeah," Hayley said a little nervously as she swallowed the mouthful of sandwich. If anyone found out that 'Dragon' was Draco, the two of them would have a big riot on their hands. Both by their friends and peers. On one hand, everyone will accuse Draco of slipping her a love potion or even cursing her to be his friend. On the other, Draco's friends would argue with him, wondering what he was doing with a Hufflepuff. Hayley didn't know if she should be insulted if she was told that she can't be his friend just because she was a Hufflepuff. A _Hufflepuff_!

"So, who is he?" Susan asked eagerly as she began to make Hayley's bed for her, folding the wet towels over the heater in the middle of the room so they would dry for the next morning. "Do I know him? Is he a Hufflepuff? Or a Ravenclaw? Ooh! Or a Gryffindor!" Hayley noted how Susan didn't mention Draco's house, "Ooh, tell! Please! I am your bestest friend _ever_,"

Hayley smiled lightly at her, amused at how Susan would suddenly become her 'bestest' friend, only because she wanted to know who Hayley's secret friend was. It was rather amusing. "I am not telling you. You'll tell everyone and he wouldn't be a secret any more."

"AHA! So it is a guy! Is he cute? Hot? Amazingly hot? Average? Spill, girly!" Hayley and Susan both laughed. Susan reached for the pumpkin pie, and Hayley swatted her hand away. "Ouch. Sorry... pumpkin pie is just too good to let go cold,"

"Hun, it's a pie... it's good hot or cold," Hayley said with a smile as she split the pie in half and gave Susan some, "You know. . . no matter how many times you persist, I'll never tell you who Dragon is. Never. Ever. Even if I marry him. . . you'll never know his identity." Hayley paused, thinking about what life would be like if she _did_ marry Draco. . . their babies would have exotic, or even old, names. . . have hair that wasn't quite blonde, but wasn't quite brown. . . their eyes would be an amazing shade of blue with some green specks in them. . . they'd grow up to be smart, beautiful and loved by everyone. . . Hayley quickly shook her head and looked at Susan. She was aware that she was speaking, but didn't know what she was saying. "Sorry, what?"

Susan smirked lightly at her best friend. "You were daydreaming about him weren't you?" She asked, waggling her eyebrows suggestively at her friend. "And, if I am your Maid of Honour. . . no, wait. . . when I am your Maid of Honour, how will I not see his face if I'm there beside you when you marry him? Can't you just tell me his first name? Or Surname? I'm sure I wouldn't get it instantly. . . most of the names here are common first or second names."

"I'm not telling you," Hayley said with a laugh as she took a bite of the still warm pumpkin pie. She figured that Draco put a warming charm on the food, as he knew that she hated eating cold pie. "You could put a truth spell on me or use a truth potion. . . I will never tell you who Dragon is," She said

Susan raised an eyebrow at her friend as she temporarily forgot about the pumpkin pie that was in her hands. She didn't know what it was, but she felt like Hayley either was ashamed at 'Dragon', or she feared for their friendship. Which friendship, though, she didn't know. . . whether it was Hayley's and Susan's, or Hayley's and 'Dragon's. Hayley shouldn't be ashamed at the friendship. Susan would do anything to have a friendship with a guy like Hayley had with 'Dragon'. Susan also felt like. . . Hayley didn't trust her, or something. If this 'Dragon' was someone who everyone hated, like Malfoy, then Susan had no right to judge. Hayley would have, apparently, seen something in the Slytherin that she liked. Susan sighed lightly. If it was Malfoy. . . poor Hayley.

"Um. . . we'd best go and get some fresh air," Hayley said after a few minutes of awkward silence, "Or we can go to the library. . . or meet up with Harry, Ron and Hermione or something. . . I've been cooped up in here for too long." Susan nodded at her and the girls both left the Hufflepuff Common room. Hayley felt guilty about keeping Dragon's identity from her best girl friend, but she knew how Susan would react and feared for their friendship. She had a feeling that Susan has already figured it out, but didn't want to say anything. She _really_ hated keeping things from her. But, she had to, for some strange, unknown reason.


End file.
